


Impaired Flight

by HelloThere3306



Series: Batson, the Bat sons and the Shazamily Walk Into a Manor [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Angst, Freddie Freeman-centric, Freddy Freeman Needs a Hug, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Insecure Freddie Freeman, Insecure Tim Drake, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake-centric, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:22:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28416810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloThere3306/pseuds/HelloThere3306
Summary: Tim is no stranger to feeling inadequate, but he finds a like soul in the manor's new guest, Freddie Freeman.
Relationships: Freddie Freeman & Tim Drake
Series: Batson, the Bat sons and the Shazamily Walk Into a Manor [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077431
Comments: 4
Kudos: 106





	Impaired Flight

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't particularly looking to make it that way, but there is conversation matter that could be interpreted as suicidal. Just a warning.

Tim was used to silence in the Wayne manor.

Normally, Tim was left to his own devices after breakfast. He’d fill out paperwork and study, research some lowly villains just in case they got bold. Sometimes he facetimed Kon to fill the silence, or watched Netflix or something of the sort. He had his own coffee machine in his room, so he was never at a loss in the caffeine department. The most noise he’d hear on a daily basis was maybe a grunt from Jason as he passed the door to get to his own room, occasionally a yell from Damian, a response from Bruce.

When the Vasquez’s and their merry band of misfits arrived, that changed pretty quickly. 

Most of it was the good kind of noise, the little kids yelling at video games and giggling at each other, the blast of muffled music from two floors above. If Tim hadn’t trained his ears, he probably wouldn’t hear any of it at all. 

But it was pretty easy to hear the  _ thp-thp-thump  _ “CRAP” of someone falling down the stairs. 

Tim, with nothing better to do, bolted worriedly from his room and down the hallway. The staircase was just in front of the main entrance, with Tim’s room down the same hall, so it didn’t take him long. 

“Are you okay,” he asked before he could see who it was. 

When he could, he saw the kid with the beanie, eyes squeezed shut, hands clutching his thigh tight enough to cut off the blood flow. His crutch was haphazardly disregarded several steps above, though Tim could imagine that wasn’t on purpose. When the kid regained his breath, he nodded exaggeratedly. “I’m perfect. But hey, while you’re standing, could you retrieve the stick I use to move my leg?”

Tim empathised with the bitter tone in the kid’s voice, skipping the few steps it took to retrieve the crutch and setting it back down next to him. He sank down next to him, scanning his face for any signs of excruciating pain. His eyebrows were furrowed, but his eyes were no longer squeezed shut, so maybe it was...just a little pain? The normal amount?  _ Wait,  _ Tim thought,  _ the normal amount is none... _

“Sorry, uh, my name’s Tim,” he said, before things could get more awkward than they already were, the two of them lounging at the base of the staircase.

“Freddie.”

Tim stood, offering a hand to the kid on the ground. Freddie took it gratefully, pulling himself up and reaching down slowly to retrieve his crutch, situating it around his wrist and elbow. “Where were you headed,” Tim asked when Freddie was done.

“Outside, man. I swear this place is haunted.”

Tim nodded in agreement. The manor always seemed eerily empty, despite the sufficient warmth and overabundance of regular inhabitants.

“It’d make the  _ perfect  _ superhero lair though.” Freddie grinned at Tim conspiratorially. 

Tim crossed his arms as they walked. “I do find it annoying that we all know there are superheroes living two floors away from each other, and yet all of us refuse to acknowledge it.”

Freddie, pushing open the door with an elbow, answered almost instantly. “I think it’s cool. It’s like a - superhero hotel!”

Tim didn’t answer. He supposed he’d gotten over the romanticism of superheroism. Now he just found it - annoying, keeping a secret identity. 

Freddie went on. It seemed he would be a good conversational partner. “Anyways, if you had  _ real  _ superpowers - cause you’re like, one of the ex-robins right? If you had an actual superpower, what would it be?”

Tim shrugged, expecting that to be the end of it. Freddie continued staring, however, and it was oddly unsettling. “Uh...infinite knowledge? That or...mind reading.”

Freddie nodded. “Both knowledge - related, huh? Do you think you’re dumb or something?”

Tim sputtered. “Wha - no!”

Freddie did an odd, one shouldered shrug. “Only people who think they don’t know enough would ask for knowledge as a superpower. I mean - you could have the power to fly and also have good research skills. What are you gonna do with knowledge if you don’t have the skills to use it?”

Tim paused abruptly, a sort of frustration prickling at his ears. He’d joined this kid on a walk looking to get to know him, he didn’t want to be psychoanalyzed by a nerd with a gimp leg! He prepared himself to chew into the insensitive boy, but stopped at the blank expression on his face. Freddie was looking at him expectantly, like he truly wanted an answer out of him.

Tim took a few hesitant steps forward, halting only two feet away from the kid. “Is that what you would do?”

Freddie looked confused. “What?”

“If you could have a superpower, you would fly?”

Freddie grinned, but there was a sort of hopelessness to it that made Tim’s heart ache at the familiarity of it. That was the expression he wore when Damian belittled his place as a family member, when Jason taunted him and called him ‘replacement,’ when Bruce banned him from going on missions because he’d missed too much sleep. “I can’t even walk right, of course I’d choose flight!” Freddie’s tone was teasing, but Tim could tell it was a sore subject.

Thereafter, the duo continued walking in silence. Tim pondered the troubling revelations the conversation had given him. Tim didn’t think he was dumb, he knew his intelligence was above average, but he did search for knowledge for less - than - wholesome reasons. If he could prove that he was intelligent, go further than figuring out Batman’s identity, go further than becoming the future CEO of Wayne Enterprises, further than simply existing there, then maybe he could solidify himself. Create a name for  _ himself,  _ a name that didn’t rely on being Red Robin, or being related to Dick or Jason or Damian.

The troubling thoughts made way for a more pressing matter at the moment though, one that materialized in his mouth as - “but wait, Billy said you can fly?”

Freddie looked at him, frowning. “Well did he explain that I have to change into a completely different person to do it? Don’t get me wrong, it’s still  _ soooo  _ freakin’ cool, but whenever I change into… I dunno, Captain Marvel Junior? Don’t judge me, I’m still thinking of a name...I never wanna turn back. I never wanna be ‘Frederick Freeman’ again.”

Tim looked at the ground as they walked. Where were they headed? He didn’t really think it mattered.

“I think I get it,” Tim said, eyes downcast. “Like that feeling where you get the chance to be someone different, someone  _ better,  _ and then you have to go back to just being you and it seems like it just isn’t...worth it? Living on, at least not like that, I mean?”

Freddie’s head jerked in some approximation of a nod. “Yeah. It...sucks.”

They walked until it got dark, at which point they decided to turn back. Instead of walking, Freddie found it imperative to show off his powers. With a yell of ‘SHAZAM,’ Freddie had scooped Tim off the ground, along with his now - useless crutch, and flew swiftly back to the manor.

Upon landing, Freddie swiftly turned back, giggling childishly at Tim's expression.

“I didn’t appreciate that,” Tim grumbled.

He watched Freddie’s back disappear up the stairs, and only when he was gone did he shake his head and smile.


End file.
